I own up to being confused about the genesis of Howells’s Flourish for a Bidding. I have long
assumed that it referred to a ‘bidding prayer’ used in the Church. I was wrong.
This attractive number was completed on August 29 1969 and was presented at an
auction to raise money for the Royal College of Organists- hence ‘bidding’. The
liner notes do not state how much was raised. Paul Andrews writing the notes
for the Hyperion recording of this work suggests that George Thalben-Ball gave
the first performance and that Novello paid the princely sum of £21.00 for the
manuscript. The Flourish is less ‘romantic’
in sound than Howells earlier organ Rhapsodies and relies on jerky,
‘declamatory’ phrases to provide the momentum.

‘St Louis come to Clifton’ was Herbert Howells’ last essay for the
organ. It was written in honour of Douglas Fox of Clifton College and appeared
in a privately published volume entitled ‘A Garland for DGAF’. Fox had lost an
arm during the Great War. The music is based on a fifteenth-century folk tune, ‘St
Louis’ that had been dear to the composer’s heart for many years. Christopher S.
Anderson in his Twentieth Century Organ
Music recalls that Howells has shown this tune to Maurice Ravel; the elder
composer had never made use of it. It is an attractive, if somewhat withdrawn,
‘farewell’ to the organ.

The ‘Intrata No. 2’ is a work that I have not (consciously) heard
before. It was composed in honour of Sir Walter Alcock’s 80th
birthday. Alcock, who was born in 1861, was an organist, professor at the Royal
College of Music and composer. He had
studied with Sir John Stainer and Sir Arthur Sullivan, so provided a strong
link to an earlier ‘school’ of English music. He is recalled as having been the
only British organist to have played at three Coronations – Edward VII, George
V and George VI.

Howells’ tribute takes the form of an ‘arch-shaped’ structure similar
to his First Rhapsody. The quieter opening and closing passages have greater
depth and introspection. Strangely, there is no trace of an Intrata No. 1.

Much has been written about Herbert Howells’ ‘Three Rhapsodies’ composed
between 1915 and 1918. Rhapsody No.1 in D flat is romantically charged and is
‘tinged with a nostalgic Victorianism.’ It is said to have been a musical
‘representation’ of Chosen Hill in Gloucestershire. The work is in arch form,
beginning and ending in a restrained pianissimo and rising to a commanding
climax. The second was written in Easingwold in the North Riding and features a
complex but restrained middle section: it is much more strident and troubled
than the previous work. Rhapsody No.3 is well-known for having been written in
York during a Zeppelin raid on that city. It was completed at one sitting. This
is a fervent work that belies any fear for his own safety that the composer may
have entertained. The Rhapsodies are dedicated to Harold Darke, Walter Alcock
and Edward Bairstow respectively.

In 1958 the composer returned to the form and produced a fourth example
subtitled ‘bene psallite in vociferatione’. The liner notes do not give a
translation of this soubriquet; it derives from St. Jerome’s translation of
Psalm 32.3 from the Hebrew. Rendered into English it states ‘...diligently
praise him in rejoicing.’ This is a ‘Festival’ piece which Christopher Palmer
has noted ‘marks a new simplicity of style...the polyphony is less
labyrinthine, the lines cleaner drawn, the harmonic texture more sinewy.’ Rhapsody
No. 4 is dedicated to John Birch who was then organ professor at the Royal
College of Music. It received its first performance, by the dedicatee in
Westminster Abbey some ten years later.

The final work on this CD is Herbert Howells’ Organ Sonata dating from
1932. The liner notes explain that this was in fact his second sonata for the
instrument, the first having been a part of his ‘scholarship submission’ to the
Royal College of Music. This ‘second’ sonata is a huge work, conceived in three
movements and lasting for just over half an hour. The sound world of this piece is considerably
different to the earlier Rhapsodies, although the Howells’ fingerprints are
still there. I guess that this music seems to be closer to Walton than the more
‘romantic’ sound of the 1st Rhapsody.
The music is incisive, often fragmentary and has complex rhythmic
patterns featuring ‘frequent off-beat accents’. The work is characterised by a
‘structural freedom’ balanced by the use of a single motivic cell to provide
unity across the three movements.

The opening section is in sonata form and concludes with a powerful and
moving peroration. The middle movement is much more pastoral in style without
being ‘folksy.’ Howells begins with an eerie fugue. There is a strange fanfare
for the ‘tuba’ stop which seems out of place in this largely diffuse harmonic
world. The finale is really a huge toccata by another name. It makes use of
fanfare figurations, pedal points, has a quiet reflective middle section and
concludes with a massive statement of the main ‘theme,’

The Organ Sonata was first heard at the Royal Albert Hall on 20 March
1934. The performance was given by George Thalben-Ball, the work’s
dedicatee.

The sound quality of this disc is impressive. There is an effective
balance between the loud and more intimate passages. The selection of music on
this CD is wisely chosen, balancing the more popular Rhapsodies with a number
of less-well-known pieces. Arkiv catalogue notes only two other recordings of
the Sonata (Graham Barber & Robert Benjamin-Dobey) whereas there are some
nine or ten versions of the Rhapsody No.3. The other works are similarly
scantily represented. The CD has a generous 76 minutes playing time.

The liner notes are excellent and include the specification of the fine
‘Father’ Willis organ installed in 1876-7. In spite of many restorations,
cleanings and rebuilds, the organ ‘remains a stylistic entity and an
undiminished masterpiece.’

David Newsholme is currently the Assistant Organist at Canterbury
Cathedral and also the Organist in that city’s King’s School. He is Musical
Director of the Canterbury Singers. This is his first solo organ recording. For
my money he gives definitive accounts of all these pieces and I look forward to
hearing him in the future. Perhaps he will record the Howells ‘Psalm Tune
Preludes’?

With thanks to MusicWeb International where this review was first published.

About Me

I am well over fifty years old: the end of the run of baby boomers! I was born in Glasgow, moving south to York in the late ‘seventies. I now work in London.
My main interest is British Music from the nineteenth century onwards.
I love the ‘arch-typical’ English countryside – and have always wanted to ‘Go West, Boy’.
A. E. Housman and the ‘Georgian’ poets are a huge influence on my aesthetic. I have spent much of my life looking for the ‘Land of Lost Content’ and only occasionally glimpsed it…somewhere in…???
My recently published work includes essays on Ivor Gurney’s song ‘On Wenlock Edge’ for the Gurney Society Journal, The Music of Marion Scott and a study of Janet Hamilton’s songs for the British Music Society Journal, and the composer Muriel Herbert for the Housman Society.
I have contributed to the journals of the Ralph Vaughan Williams Society, the Finzi Society, and the Bliss Society, the Berkeley Society, the BMS Newsletter and regular CD reviews for MusicWeb International.